Transcripts of Mike Shanahan's and London Fletcher's conference calls with Jets reporters on Wednesday midday:
REDSKINS HEAD COACH MIKE SHANAHAN
On what he has seen from Mark Sanchez on film…
It's like, all the quarterbacks run their football team. You want to have a lot of production. You'll go as far as the quarterback takes you and we all understand there's a supporting cast that goes with it, but he's going to get a lot of the credit, a lot of the blame. When they play good, that quarterback's great. When they play poorly, usually all of the blame goes to quarterback. That's just natural in the National Football League.
On if he believes the third-year is a swing year for quarterbacks…
I think it all depends on your football team. You've got a better running game, you have usually the better the quarterback is. It all depends where your skill positions are at. It takes more than just a quarterback to run a great offense. You've got to have a collective group of individuals to get to the next level and appear in the top five. Normally, you have a good running game and you're very good at the skill positions as well.
On if he is surprised the Bills challenged Darrelle Revis and if he thinks that will become a trend…
Yeah, I was a little bit surprised. I think he was probable surprised. He wasn't ready for that, because nobody does that. Probably caught him a little bit by surprise. I don't think anybody's going to catch him by surprise anymore. You might do that once, but that's not going to happen again. If you watch him on tape, any time he's challenged he plays at a very, very high level. Probably didn't think he was going to get challenged in that game and was a bit surprised himself.
On if he expects Revis to play at a high level this week…
Yeah, I can guarantee you that will happen, because he's done it throughout the year against some excellent football players. He's in a class by himself as far as I'm concerned.
On if he is telling Rex Grossman to not throw near Revis…
Not too often anyhow.
On if he was pleased with the play from Grossman last week…
Yeah, I was pleased with the way he played, especially on the road in those type of conditions. It was raining through most of the game. I thought he played well and handled himself well.
On the inconsistencies by the Jets offense in the passing and running games…
We're getting into the same thing ourselves. It's hard for me to figure out them when I can't figure out myself. We're doing a little bit of that week by week. Sometimes the running game is a little bit better than other weeks and sometimes the passing game is a little bit better. You want to get both going, being the type of offense that we'd like to be, a top-five offense, and I'm sure the Jets feel the same way. You just keep on working those little things, and hopefully, it will eliminate some of the mistakes you're making.
On if Roy Helu is their guy at running back now…
Yes, he is going to get a more opportunities now. I think he has already. I think he has a good feel now of the protection schemes. He has gotten a lot better in pass protection, just by practice, especially without the OTA days. Yes, I think he can handle a bigger load now, just like he did against the Seahawks. Hopefully, he takes advantage of the opportunity. He has a big upside. He has great speed. Anytime you deal with a back with a 4.4 [time in the 40], you know he has the speed to make the big plays. He had an excellent run on that third-and-3 that got us into the end zone.
On if he is surprised that the Jets defense let Denver come back and beat them and that Buffalo came close to doing the same thing…
Against Denver, you take a look at 12 possessions, you take a look at eight three-and-outs, they're averaging 4 yards a carry. The other one was five plays for 13 yards. They have two drives the whole game and the last one happens to be 95 yards. I'd say you'd feel pretty good about the way you played defense. He has the perfect call on, really, in the last play and [Tim] Tebow just makes a great play getting outside the pocket. That defense had to feel very good about the way they played. It was just unfortunate that they had that turnover for a touchdown.
On the season Aaron Rodgers has had…
I think Aaron has certainly done a great job. He's an athlete who can make plays outside the pocket. You can see they spend a lot of time together because they're hitting back shoulders versus press coverage, his ability to ad lib a little bit where he can make people miss and kind of drift a little bit and still has the arm strength to make any throw he wants to make. I think they've done a great job with the personnel, as well. They have the personnel on both sides of the ball that give him a chance to have the success that he's having.
REDSKINS LB LONDON FLETCHER
On what the season has been like so far…
Obviously, we got off to a promising start to our season, starting off 3-1, and then we went on a six-game losing streak, which was very frustrating week in and week out, not being able to make enough plays to win the game. This week, just being able to go out to Seattle, a tough place to play, and being down by 10 points in the fourth quarter, coming back with the win, it says a lot about our football team and guys are definitely excited about that.
On if they have felt a lift in the team's spirit after the win at Seattle…
I think so. Really, even after the Dallas game, we felt like we played pretty well against Dallas. We ended up losing to them in overtime. That's when stuff kind of changed a little bit for us. The offense moved the ball pretty well against Dallas and we just were able to get points scored. But I think, really, the tide turned for us a little bit in the Dallas game.
On what he has seen out of Mark Sanchez…
He's a good quarterback. He has the ability to make plays. He has some really good receivers, a good group of guys. They have a real good run game. He's mobile, he can make plays, he's definitely improving each year that he has been in the league.
On what Sanchez does that concerns him and the defense…
He gets the ball out of his hands pretty quickly. He makes decisions pretty quickly. He knows where he wants to go with the football. Those are things that you look at. The ball is not going to be in his hands for a very long time.
On any vulnerabilities that Sanchez displays that they'll try to take advantage of…
Not anything that jumps out to you.
On what he has seen from David Harris…
I think David Harris is one of the really good young linebackers in the league, definitely an up-and-coming player. He's a pretty stout run defender, he's a good young football player. I watch him, I watch all the inside linebackers. So anytime I get a chance to look at him, whether it's on film or maybe a national game, and the Jets have been on several national games [I do]. I look at the linebackers. They have an excellent linebacking corps and he's the leader of that group.
On what is the biggest priority to stop in the Jets offense…
I think each and every week, when you go into a game, you definitely want to stop the team's running game because you don't want to have it to where they have the ability to run the ball on you. Now that sets up play-action passes and things like that. In the past, the way they've been successful is being able to run the football. They have a lot of good running backs. The offensive line is excellent, so you definitely go into the game thinking "stop the run." That way, you try to make a team one-dimensional and go from there.
On what it takes to have prolonged success at inside linebacker in the NFL…
I think constantly challenging yourself, day in and day out, week in and week out, whether it's at practice or in the meeting room, staying on top of your craft, working on your technique all the time, just studying and taking care of your body and doing all those things that it's going to take to stay in this league for a long time and be successful in this league for a long time.
On what Brian Orakpo and Ryan Kerrigan have meant to the defense…
Anytime you play in a 3-4 scheme, you talk about being able to pressure the quarterback and we have two outstanding outside linebackers who are really good at rushing the quarterback, putting pressure on the quarterback. Those are staples of your defense, being able to rush the quarterback with your outside linebackers.
On Mike Shanahan's coaching style...
He's been consistent with his approach from day one until now. Working hard at practice, continuing to challenge yourself mentally, physically to play that perfect game. He's been the same throughout the whole season.
